Factors Influencing Alcohol Consumption in Russia

Abstract

The main purpose of the study is to determine the differences in factors influencing alcohol consumption in Russia (among urban and rural residents).The first part of the article provides the author's assessment of studies in which place of residence is considered as a specific factor influencing alcohol consumption. Attention is paid to works that focus on differences in factors affecting alcohol consumption depending on the place of residence.The main section of the article contains a description of the empirical testing of the hypotheses based on statistical data for 2012–2021 from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) NRU HSE. The author used panel logistic regression with random individual effects for the probability of alcohol consumption and a panel Tobin model for the volume of alcohol consumption. The study revealed differences in the degree of influence of the level of education and religiosity, marital status and the presence of children on the level of alcohol consumption among urban and rural residents. Thus, a higher level of religiosity reduces the likelihood of alcohol consumption by rural residents; the volume of alcohol consumption decreases with a rise in the level of religiosity in the city. It is also shown that the presence of children in families reduces per capita alcohol consumption only in villages.According to the author, the findings help make more effective and targeted recommendations for implementing state alcohol policy.